As part of the school’s first Winterm, a two-week program for high school students, teens participated in Brazilian jiujitsu classes in the gym. “When we originally told the students we were doing a Winterm, they kind of said, ‘yeah, whatever,’” said CTCS secondary principal Shawn Smith. “But when they came in and started participating in class Tuesday morning, they really got excited.”
High school students were allowed to choose from a list of classes not normally offered before returning to their regular schedule. Students take one three-hour course in the morning, and one in the afternoon and receive credit on a pass/fail basis.
“It really gives the students a chance to participate in activities they would normally not be involved in,” Smith said.
“I like the idea a lot,” said junior Taylor Truitt, 17, who is taking jiujitsu and a set design class. “It’s different - being able to come out here and be active is nice considering we just got back from break.”
“It beats being in the classroom,” Truitt said.
In CTCS’ jiujitsu class, John Moore of the Grappler’s Lair in Temple lectured students. Jiujitsu is a form of martial arts that concentrates on leverage and body positioning.
“Jiujitsu is a love of mine,” said student Marina Inocencio, 16, who has a blue belt in the sport. “I’ve been doing it for seven years. It’s nice to be able to show off to the other students and help teach them some things.”
Miss Inocencio, who is also taking a horsemanship and riding class, said she’s enjoying Winterm.
“It’s nice being able to get outside of the classroom to do things,” she said.
Classes being offered through the term are Logic, Creation Science, Elementary Education, Horsemanship and Riding, Mural Design, SAT Preparation, Set Design, What’s Cooking, Adobe Flash, Jiujitsu, Medicine, Business, the Christian, Memory Keepers, and One-act Play.
“I think they’re having a lot of fun with the term,” said Gary Inocencio, Marina’s father, and a staff member at CTCS. “The students seem to be excited about it, which is nice because they’re just coming back from the holiday break.”
Melissa Fulcher, who normally teaches Spanish and Bible classes, was instructing students on how to make omelets in her What’s Cooking course Wednesday morning. Students were transported to the Temple Bible Church, where they used the kitchen to cook.
“There was a lot of energy once they started working on things,” Ms. Fulcher said. “They were real excited. I had a student who doesn’t like eggs who was enjoying an omelet and a student who didn’t like onions was eating onions. It was a good experience for them.”
She said students in the class would be working on Game Day foods this morning, preparing for tonight’s NCAA Football National Championship Game.
CTCS officials said they came up with the idea for a Winterm after Superintendent Ed Thomas attended a seminar in the summer and met with an official from a school in Minnesota who also had a Winterm.
“Another positive is that it allows us to transfer students easier,” Smith said. “Many times students in public schools end their first semester of school after the holiday break - so they haven’t finished or received grades. This lets us wait for them to finish if they decide to transfer.”
